High End Tube Gear Transition to High End SS

IF you like the tube amp sound but must downsize to an integrated amp, why not a tube integrated?

If you are looking for something different or more modern sounding, then a move to SS might yield dividends.

What works/sounds best mostly depends on ones goals. Lots of technical choices to achieve those.

Or how about a hybrid integrated? The newer Peachtree Nova integrateds seem to have gotten mostly everything right on paper and these are on my audition list. At least if digital source material is a big consideration.

Regardless of amplification technology used, a focus on coherency in the sound can yield great results for minimal cost.

Ironically, often the less complex gear tends to be the most coherent sounding. ICs and speaker designs, especially in regards to crossover and baffle geometry, are two areas of focus that can yield big dividends and work well with any kind of amplification if matched well to the speakers.

SPeaker wires used may also yield dividends in regards to coherency but I have not dabbled much there to-date.

Specific products I have heard that are particularly coherent:

DNM Reson ICS due to simple cost effective minimalist design I believe

OHM Walsh and Triangle speakers due to use of wide range main drivers and/or simple crossover

Any Walsh design speaker or even more conventional single driver full/wide range speakers should also share similar traits regarding coherency.

Another 2-way speaker brand I have not heard that I believe to have these traits is Ref 3a. I have also seen some older Meadowlark designs that are said to do well in this regard. Thiel perhaps as well.

There is a thread going on about the DEQX digital correction solution that addresses the time coherency issues inherent in many systems. Teh consensus seems to be that this is a real issue in many cases and specialized digital processing to compensate these days is a viable solution.